Paper X
by Safi
Summary: The X-men, but not X-men. If you know what I mean......
1. Default Chapter

Paper X

Right, I've had this idea in my head for a while now and I got so annoyed thinking about it that I had to write something down and see if any of you lot out there thought it was any good. Obviously I don't own these people, Marvel do. If you feel the urge to sue someone then sue them not me as I have no money. 

Paper X

Part 1

As he reached the top floor of the building. Bobby Drake walked out of the lift and was suddenly thrust into the frantic pace of a busy newspaper. The office was a hive of activity, everywhere you looked one could see people shouting at each other and dashing around, trying desperately to put the finishing touches to stories in an attempt to achieve the reporters dream of front page news. Telephone's were perpetually ringing as the intended recipient refused to budge from their train of thought and risk the distraction. 

The headquarters of 'The Dream' newspaper was situated in the heart of Westchester, occupying the top four floors and basement of what the employees had endearingly nicknamed 'The Mansion'. It was an old building, the architecture reminiscent of the 18th Century and, even with the interior having been turned into an modern office environment, it still held that air of tradition and nostalgia. The open plan layout, except for a few closed areas for the senior employees, afforded the maximum possible room but even so you couldn't stand still for very long without getting bumped into by someone or another in the frantic rush to get the next edition out.

Dressed in his best suit, as all new employees do, and eager to find out what the hell he was supposed to be doing there, Bobby tried to grab the attention of one of the many people rushing past him.

"Um, excuse me? I wonder…."

"No time."

"Could you help?…."

"Get outta my face kid."

__

Dammit, he thought, annoyed at being ignored, _be forceful like Mum said_, he told himself as another person approached. "Hey!" Bobby almost shouted at the woman, startling her so much that she dropped the reams of files that she had only just managed to get to balance on her arms.

"Jesus! What the hell did you do that for?" She said in an angry British accent, bending down to pick up the loose papers.

"Oh god I'm sorry," Bobby replied sheepishly, "Here, let me help you." 

"Ow!" They both cried as Bobby crouched down only to bang heads with the woman as she went to get up.

"Bloody hell, do you have a ability for annoying people or what?" 

"It's one of my most endearing qualities." He mumbled, hoping to ease the tension between them.

"Look, what do you want?" She said tersely, rubbing the front of her head. Any patience having run out about the same time she starting seeing stars in front of her eyes.

"Um, I'm the new intern, I was told to meet the editor on this floor but I don't know where exactly, I was hoping you could tell me."

"So you're Bobby Drake." She replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Well I'm Elizabeth Braddock, Current Affairs Editor. One of your new bosses. I'm sure I'll find plenty for you to get your teeth into once Mr 'High and Mighty' is finished with you."

__

Aw shit, _way to go Bobster_. "Oh cool, can't wait." He mumbled sarcastically but quietly enough so that she didn't hear, he hoped.

"And just for that you can carry all these to my office before I take you to him." She said, grinning evilly at the boy.

Bobby simply sighed in defeat, picked up the mountain of paper and trudged behind his new-found 'friend'.

***

"Look Forge I don't want to hear excuses," Scott Summers shouted angrily down the phone, "Just make sure that the printers get up and running as soon as possible or I'm going to come down there and sort it out myself."

He slammed the phone down, inwardly cursing himself for giving that man the job. No matter what references he said he had, he was just no good with technology. As he sat in his office, contemplating how he was going to explain to his boss why the next day's edition was going to be late, again, Scott heard someone knock quietly and slowly open the door.

"Yes what?" He said a little more harshly than intended.

"Um, sorry to disturb you," The boy said, nervously fidgeting about as he entered the room. "My names Bobby Drake, I'm the new Intern?"

"Ah yes," Scott replied, _thank god for that_, he thought as he stood up, almost crushing the smaller man's hand in a firm handshake. "Good to meet you, I'm Scott Summers, Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper. I'll take you round to meet the people you'll be working under from now on although your ultimate boss will be me."

"Right, cool, fair enough, lets go." Bobby stammered out, cradling his hand in the other, eyes darting nervously about in a bid to not have to make eye contact with the bigger man. 

Scott grinned at the young man and opened the door, letting the sights and sounds of the office filter in and barrage their senses. 

"Welcome to 'The Dream' Bobby."

What do ya think? Please let me know!! 


	2. Part 2

Part 2

Alright, here's part two. All the characters are Marvels blah, blah, blah. 

Part 2

__

Woah, who the hell is that?

"This is Jean Grey," Scott said as he introduced the two strangers. "She's our resident Marvel Girl."

"Actually it's more like an Agony-aunt but I'm sure you get the picture." Jean replied smiling warmly at the two men, walking round her desk and shaking Bobby's hand. 

"So, how are you finding it?" She asked the boy.

__

Oh just tickety-boo thank you, _by the way I'm fine with the whole 'meaningless office romance' thing if you will be_, "Oh fine, a little disconcerting, there's a hell of a lot of people in this place." 

"Don't I know it." She replied cryptically, "But I'm sure you'll be fine in no time, if you need anything then just come and ask. I'm usually here or in Scott's office." 

Bobby turned his head and saw that the older man was wearing an incredibly smug expression at her words. _Sheeaa right_, he thought, as Scott's expression turned into a look that strongly implied 'interrupt us when we're alone and die'.

"Well, we'd best go and introduce you to some of the others I suppose." Scott finally spoke after a long silence in which Bobby was subjected to the feeling of the 'Invisible' man.

Although he was also quite happy to keep this beautiful lady company, thought of an escape of the older mans raging hormones shook Bobby into action. With a final smile, he turned and followed Scott out of the office. At the final moment, he stopped and turned around, catching the briefest of glimpse's of her behind, and gave out an, appreciative, sigh. It was only when he heard another, more longing sigh from behind him did he realise Scott was watching the same thing.

***

"Basically you'll be doing whatever people need you to do at the time." Scott explained as they made their way through the busy office. "Most of it will be photocopying or running articles around but we'll show you how to do that later." 

Bobby simply nodded as Scott went on, having a hard enough time concentrating enough to keep out of other peoples way. While the throng seemed to just open up, not unlike Moses standing before the Nile, in front of the older man, Bobby was constantly butting arms or having to avoid hitting someone as they seemingly roamed aimlessly around the office 

As they neared a door, noticeably furthest from either Scott or Jean's office's, Scott turned around and looked seriously at the boy. "I'm going to introduce you to the most…..difficult of our editors." The way that the word 'difficult' had escaped from the Editors lips filled Bobby with a burning desire to skip the introduction entirely. "He's a little brisk with other people so just try to stay on his good side alright?" He added as they knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered. A small, but well-built, shadow could be seen prowling around the table, shouting into a mobile phone and using distinctly non-publishable words more often than not.

Scott became impatient quickly and began to pound on the door, intent on forcing the occupant to acknowledge their presence.

"Um, maybe he can't hear us what with the phone and all." Bobby ventured after the latest hammering, if this happened all the time, he was amazed the door was still attached to the wall.

Scott, clearly looking unimpressed with the excuse, snorted," You'd be surprised, that man can tell if anyone is coming within fifty feet of his office." Pulling away from his stare at the shadow, Scott looked down at Bobby and grinned slightly, "It's the only way he can stub out his cigar before I find out about it and stick it where the sun has no chance of shining."

Suddenly the door flew open and a diminutive, but incredibly stocky and imposing, figure shoved his way past the two men and shouted into the open space.

"Lee! Hey Lee! Where's that damn girl when ya need her?"

"Hopefully that won't be a problem anymore Logan." Scott replied to the smaller man's outburst.

Logan turned his head, finally acknowledging the presence of the two, and seemed to be sizing up the opportunity for a fight. Apparently dismissing the idea, he turned around and stalked back into his office, "Whadda want Cyke?" He said impatiently.

__

Cyke?

Scott gestured towards Bobby, "This is Bobby Drake, our new Intern, he's here to help Jubilation with her work-load."

Logan eyed the boy suspiciously, "So you're the new hired help?"

Bobby bit his lip, pulled up every ounce of courage he had and stretched out his hand. "That's me, willing to do anything for a dollar!" 

Logan looked at the offered handshake, ignored it and went to sit down behind his desk.

"I wouldn't be too forthcoming with that kind of information if I was you." Scott commented dryly as he looked at Logan. He turned to Bobby, "This is Logan, he's our current Sports Editor…"

"And long-suffering employee." Logan interjected. 

"And has the dubious honour of being the most well-known of our reporters." Scott finished, ignoring the other man's attempts to bait him.

"Yeah, I thought I recognised you," Bobby replied, turning to face Logan, "You used to play Pro Football for a couple of seasons and then left the game. Your nickname used to be Wolverine if I remember correctly."

Both men looked at the boy, slightly aghast, he shrugged nervously and answered their unspoken question. "I, ah, like sports, thought you were pretty good too."

The smaller man lifted his eyebrows in surprise, folded his arms behind his head and put his feet on the desk, "Works fer me." He said, regarding the boy in a new light, "Are yer still takin' him around the place or have yer finished with him? I've got a mountain o' paper-work that needs doin' real quick." He asked the Editor.

Scott opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by a young girl running into the office.

"I'm here Wolvie," She called out enthusiastically, ignoring the others and trotting over to desk, "What you got for me?"

Logan threw his hands up in relief, "Jubes! Where have ya been darlin'?"

Jubilation jumped up onto the desk opposite the man and dangled her legs over the side. "Well, I was over the other side of the office when I heard yer foghorn voice and thought I'd better get over here before ya injure yerself or, more likely, someone else!"

"Good thinking darlin'," Logan remarked fondly, "But before that, there's someone you should probably meet." He said, standing up and gesturing with his arm towards the newest addition to the newspaper. "Bobby Drake meet Jubilation Lee, Jubilation Lee meet Bobby Drake."

Jubilee stepped forward and greeted him with an energetic handshake. "Nice to meet ya, although it's Jubilee or Jubes, not many people call me by my full name, and even less get away with it!" She said, making eye contact with Logan and smiling with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Shocked by the girl's high-spirited personality, Bobby's vocabulary was reduced to one syllable words. "Er, yeah, hi, um…yeah."

"Wow, quite a talkative bloke aren't yer." Jubilee remarked good-naturedly. 

Scott came to his defence, "He's probably just a bit overwhelmed by all the new people he's meeting, I seem to remember you were a bit flustered yourself Jubilation."

"Enough of the chit-chat." Logan interrupted tersely, picking up some papers from the desk and sorting through them. "Some people have gotta paper to get out."

Scott noticeably bristled with irritation at the implication. Choosing to remain silent, he put his arms around Bobby's shoulders and guided the boy out of the office, leaving the two to discuss their work.

What do you think? Please let me know, plus question: Powers/No Powers? All answers will be greatly appreciated.


End file.
